Company reshapes risk profile and enhances capital
Core products experience record sales
CINCINNATI, Feb. 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ohio National Financial Services today announced a 3% increase in statutory total adjusted capital and 6% increase in GAAP equity (including mark to market) reaching $1.14 and $2.6 billion, respectively, while assets under management grew by 3%. The announcement follows the completion of the first year of a new strategic direction built on the company’s core and historic strengths in life insurance coupled with its disability income (DI) insurance line.
During 2019, the company focused on reshaping its risk profile while enhancing its capital strength.
“This was a pivotal year for Ohio National as we embarked on a new strategy and continued our track record of impressive execution. With prolonged low interest rates, we were able to stay true to our mutual heritage and strengthen our position to continue to serve all our policyholders today and for generations to come. We improved our capital and risk profile, delivered a very competitive life insurance and DI product lineup and continued to demonstrate financial strength in one of the most challenging external environments in our history,” reported Gary T. “Doc” Huffman, chairman and chief executive officer, at today’s Board of Directors meeting. “I'm particularly proud of the way our team executed our strategy and stayed laser focused on our core values.”
Ohio National continues to serve the needs of all its policyholders, and in 2019 paid more than $1.2 billion1 in benefits to policyholders and beneficiaries and paid dividends to eligible policyholders for the 96th consecutive year.
The company also rolled out a number of product enhancements to add value to its policyholders in its life, DI and annuity lines of business. Additionally, it achieved record sales in its indexed universal life (IUL) and DI lines, while increasing recurring life premium by 7% and enhancing its customer experience for policyholders and financial professionals.
“We’re excited to now offer our customers end-to-end e-policy delivery for our term life insurance products and we are working on plans to roll this out to other products,” said Barbara A. Turner, CRCP, president and chief operating officer. “Our DI product has proven to complement the life insurance protection strategies for clients with 20% of DI policies sold in 2019 coming from combination sales.
“We continue to focus on addressing policyholders’ needs and helping our financial professionals best serve their customers through providing quality products, support and excellent execution,” Turner added. “We rolled out an updated whole life portfolio on the 2017 CSO table with a range of protection and cash accumulation features and a new 20-pay product design. We go into this second year of our strategy well positioned to grow and deliver on our promises to our policyholders and beneficiaries.”
Core to Ohio National's Mission is providing the income protection products to serve its individual and business markets. These markets are reached through a network of independent financial professionals who value the company’s products, services and personal relationships. In 2019, the company added nearly 1,500 new financial professionals.
“We continue to make growing our sales force in numbers and diversity a priority in order to better serve the changing needs of our policyholders,” continued Turner. “We are especially proud that in 2019 our top individual life sales producer was Rebecca Walser of Walser Capital Group, the first woman to achieve Ohio National’s top sales position in our 110-year history.”
The company’s Latin American operations continue to serve the growing needs for protection products in these emerging markets. The Ohio National value proposition is attracting new independent intermediaries (financial professionals) in Peru and Chile and, through its joint venture, Centauro-ON, the builder agency model is gaining traction in Brazil.
| The company highlighted the following from its 2019 results: | ||
| • | Reached $1.14 billion in statutory total adjusted capital (ONLIC), up by $35 million. | |
| • | Grew GAAP equity (including mark-to-market) 6% to $2.6 billion. | |
| • | Achieved record IUL sales of $12.1 million, up 8% from 2018. | |
| • | Rolled out an updated whole life portfolio on the 2017 CSO table, including a new 20-pay design product. | |
| • | Achieved another record year of DI sales, surpassing the previous record set in 2018 by 17%, marking the 10th consecutive year of growth. | |
| • | Grew recurring individual life insurance premium by 7%. The five-year compound annual growth rate was 10%. | |
| • | Paid or credited more than $100 million in dividends to participating whole life policyholders. | |
| • | Ended the year with $20 billion in separate account assets in the variable annuity block of business. | |
| • | Added nearly 1,500 financial professionals to the traditional* distribution channel, including nearly 700 personally producing general agents, more than 300 career agents and 12 new general agencies. | |
| • | Ranked #7 with Million Dollar Round Table for U.S. companies. | |
| • | Grew The O.N. Equity Sales Co. gross broker-dealer concessions to $61.4 million, up 12% over 2018. The company’s retail broker-dealer subsidiary was named among the top ten growing independent broker-dealers by Investment News and Financial Planning (#6 by Financial Planning). | |
| • | Latin American operations continued to grow its builder agency model with its Brazilian joint venture. | |
| *Ohio National's traditional sales channel includes both personal producing general agents and career agency organizations. | ||
2019 Community impact
More than 80 charitable organizations throughout the Greater Cincinnati community benefited from the volunteer and financial support of Ohio National and its associates in 2019. The Ohio National Foundation donated $1.5 million to local and regional organizations including United Way, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Cincinnati, University of Cincinnati and the Cancer Center of Excellence, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and matching associate and field partner gifts to accredited colleges and universities throughout the country. In 2019 Ohio National completed the construction of its 21st and 22nd homes for Habitat Humanity, which is part of a long-standing total commitment of $1.8 million through 2021. Ohio National’s corporate United Way campaign ranked 11th in the city by raising nearly $700,000 by the company and its associates, while associates donated more than 3,200 hours during the work day in support of local organizations important to them in 2019.
2019 Ratings
Ohio National earned high marks for financial security and claims-paying ability from independent rating analysts:
| • | A.M. Best: A | |
| • | Moody’s: A3 | |
| • | Standard & Poor’s: A- |
| OHIO NATIONAL MUTUAL HOLDINGS, INC. | |||||||||
| Affiliated companies: | |||||||||
| Ohio National Financial Services, Inc. | |||||||||
| The Ohio National Life Insurance Company (ONLIC) | |||||||||
| Ohio National Life Assurance Corporation (ONLAC) | |||||||||
| (Consolidated) | |||||||||
| Summary Results as of December 31, 2019 | |||||||||
| 12/19 | 12/18 | % change | |||||||
| Total assets under management (billions) | $40.5 | $39.3 | 3% | ||||||
| Statutory total adjusted capital (ONLIC) (billions) | $1.14 | $1.10 | 3% | ||||||
| Total GAAP equity (billions) | $2.6 | $2.5 | 6% | ||||||
| (including mark-to-market) | |||||||||
| Total GAAP equity (billions) | $2.3 | $2.4 | (3%) | ||||||
| (excluding mark-to-market) | |||||||||
| GAAP core earnings (millions) | $171.1 | $192.7 | (11%) | ||||||
| Total direct life insurance premium and fees, domestic (billions) | $1.14 | $1.09 | 4% | ||||||
| Disability income insurance new sales (millions) | $7.4 | $6.3 | 17% | ||||||
About Ohio National
Since 1909, Ohio National has been committed to helping individuals, families and businesses protect what matters most. Through our network of financial professionals across 49 states (all except New York), the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico and through affiliated operations in South America, we provide the insurance products that help our policyholders achieve financial security and independence. As of December 31, 2019, its affiliated companies have $40.5 billion total assets under management. Products are issued by The Ohio National Life Insurance Company and Ohio National Life Assurance Corporation. Please visit ohionational.com for more information and for the latest company updates, connect with Ohio National on LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.
1Benefits paid in 2019 to policyholders and beneficiaries include cash payments for life insurance benefits, systematic withdrawal transactions on deferred annuity contracts, monthly disability income benefits, retirement plan benefits and annuity lump sum death claims and disbursements.
The financial data presented above is derived from results on the basis of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), except recurring life insurance premium, disability income insurance premium and assets under management. All financial information in this news release is considered unaudited because the final audit process is not yet complete.
Insurance products issued by The Ohio National Life Insurance Company and Ohio National Life Assurance Corporation. Issuers not licensed to conduct business in NY. Disability income insurance is not available in California.
The strength of our company is backed by high marks for financial security and claims paying ability from independent rating analysts. These ratings include:
| • | “A” from A.M. Best Company, its third-highest ranking out of 16 categories | |
| • | “A-” from Standard & Poor’s, its seventh-highest ranking on a 21-part scale | |
| • | “A3” from Moody’s, its seventh-highest ranking on a 21-part scale |
All ratings information is according to reports published on: standardandpoors.com, ambest.com/ratings and moodys.com/insurance. Ratings are accurate as of 12/31/19. For the most current ratings, see ohionational.com.
Contact: Lisa Doxsee, APR
513.794.6418 office
513.218.5519 mobile
Angela Meehan, CLU®, ChFC®, RFC
513.794.6337 office
513.444.0566 mobile